Contact strip annealing furnace



' Patented May 18, 1943 i CONTACT smu ANNEAIJNG FUmAcE Raymond w. Cook,Bristol, comi', assitnor' to i Associated Spring Corporation,

Bristol, Count a corporation of Deiware b Application August 17, 1942;Serial No. 455104;

' 3Ciaims. (Ci. zaa-3) This application is .acontinuation in part of myco-pending application Serial No. 294',017, filed September 8, 1939, forContact strip annealing furnace. i i

By the invention disclosedin this and the parent application I "providemeans for heating metal strip, in which two imperforate, endlessmetallic belts are mounted on` pulleys so that parts thereof will be inopposed, face-to-face a relation and will be spaced sufflciently 'toengage the opposite faces of avstrip of metal therebetween, the beltsand the strip'being moved to cause the Contacting partsthereof to traveltogether throughout a part of the total travelof the belts. and thebelts being heated in order to transfer heat to the metal strip byconduction throughoutthe contacting length of the belts and strip.

It is the object of the invention particularly disclosed and claimed'inthis application to. provide a strip heating apparatus' of the type'described which includes means for diiferentially heating thelongitudnal sides or edges of the metal strip.

Other objects and features of novelty of the invention will be madeapparent by the following description and the annexed drawing' which, itwill be understood, is merely illustrative of the invention, which isnot limited in any way therer by or otherwise than by the appendedclaims.

Referring to the drawing, in'which similar reference numerals refer tolike parts, v

Fig. 1 is a plan view oi' a heat treating apparatus according to theinvention, taken on the line i--i of Flg. 2; I

Fig. 2 is a vertical sectlonal view of a heat treating apparatusaccording to my invention,

and v i Fig. 3 is a view of a second form of a heat treating apparatusembodying my invention.

It is often necessary to heat metal strip in such a way that onelongitudinal part thereof is at a temperature different from that ofanother longitudinal part. By this invention I provide heating means, ingeneral accordance with the invention described and claimed in theparentcase and generally outlined hereinbefore, which are 'particularlyadapted and intended to effect such differential heating. One form whichsuch means may take is disclosed in Figs. 1 and 2 and comprises a pairof horizontal pulleys II, 12 which are rotatably mounted in a furnacechamber o and are positioned, respectively, adjacent the inlet andoutlet ports i3 and id ofsuch furnace. Mounted on these pulleys il, zare two imperforate metallic belts li, !6 arranged in side-by-siderelation. Above the pulleys li, 12 and parallel thereto area second pairof pulleys IT; !8 which also have mounted thereontwo imperi'oratemetallic heating belts in side-by-side relation, only -one belt [9 ofthis pair being shown.- The belts and pulleys areso positioned thatadi-acent reaches, such as I5a, isd, of the I belts are` in opposed,facevto-face parallel relation and are spaced 'apart sumciently topermit a metal strip to be positioned therebetween with its oppositesides or` faces in face-to-face contactual engagement with the spaced,opposed faces of the belts. The pulleys are driven by suitable meanssuch as the belt 'driving means 20. The strip of metal z is pulled.through the furnace by reason of the frictional engagement between theopposite faces of the strip and the outer faces of adjacent reaches ofthe belts.

Banks of heating means 22, 23, 'diagramatically illustrated in thedrawing as a plurality of radiant tube heating elements, project fromeach side of the furnace into the chamb'er and are preferablv sodisposed within the chamber that all portions of the belts are heated.It should be clearly understoo'd that the invention is not 4 limited inany way to any particular form or type of heating means.

This invention may also 'be applied to a vertical or inclined type oi'furnace, as illustrated in Fig. 3 of the drawing. In this figure thereis illustrated a vertically elongated furnace having disposed .thereintwo heating belts 30, 3| which are arranged in side-by-side relation andwhich are trained over pulley 32, a strip of metal 2i beingmaintained'in face-to-face contact with the belts in the mannerhereinbefore described. A second pair of belts 33, 34, which are trainedover and depend from a second pulley 35, may be disposed in contactualrelationship to .the opposite face of the metal strip, if desired.Suitable heating means 36 are disposed in the furnace chamber and areshown as separate radiant may be effected by diflerential operation ofthe radiant tube heaters. The strip may overlap the beits in any desiredproportion in order to differentiaily heat diflerent relativeportionsthereof.

While I have described and iliustrated various forms which my inventionmay take, it will be apparent .to those skilled in the art that otherembodiments of the invention may be made and that improvements andchanges may be made therein, all without departing in any way from thespirit or scope oi the invention. for the limits of which reference mustbe had to the appended claims. i

What is claimed is:

1. An apparatus for diflerentiaiy heating longitudinal parts of a stripof metal. comprising two groups oi' endiess imperforate metaiiic belts,the belts of each group being arranged in sideby-side reiationend thebelts of one group having parts thereof disposed in face-to-facerelation to the corresponding parts of the beits of the second group andbeing spaced from such corresponding parts suflicientiy to receive ametal strip therebetween with the opposite faces of the metal strip intace-to-face contactual engagement with the beits and in such a positionlateraily of the beits that different iongitudinal parts of the stripare in face-'to-face contactuai engagement with diflerent belts of eachgroup and means for diflerentially heating said beits to therebydiflerentially heat the strip.

2. An apparatus for differentially heating longitudinal parts of a stripof metal, comprising two groups of horizontaliy disposed, endiess, im-

perforate metaliic belts, the beits oi' each group being arranged inside-by-side relation and the belts of one group having parts thereotdisposed in face-to-face reiation to the corresponding parte of thebeits of the second group and being spaced from such corresponding partssumcientiy to receive a metal strip therebetween with the oppositei'acesof the metal strip in face-to-iace contactual engagement with thebelts and in such a position laterally of the beits that diflerentlongitudinal parte oi the strip are in face-toface contactuai engagementwith diflerent beits or each group, and means for diflerentially heatingsaid belts to thereby diflerentiaiiy heat the strip. i

3. An apparatus !or diflerentiaiiy heating longitudinai parts of a stripof metal, comprising two groups oi verticaliy disposed endiess,imperforate metaiiic beits, the beits oi each group being arranged inside-by-side relation and the belts of one group having parts thereofdisposed in face-to-iace relation to the corresponding i parts of .thebelts of the second group and being spaced from such corresponding partssumcientiy to receive a metal strip therebetween with the opposite faceso! the. metal strip in face-to-face contactual engagement with the beltsand in such a position iateraiiy of the beits that diflerentlongitudinal parts ot the strip are in faceto-face contactuaiengagementwith diflerent belts oi' each group, and means for diflerentiaiiyheating said beits tothereby oiflerentiaiiy heat hamom) w. COOK.

